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Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews Evil Urges, the new album by the Kentucky indie-rock band My Morning Jacket. The band moves away from their Southern influences, instead using Manhattan as their muse for the album.

Fleet Foxes' members grew up on the music of their parents: The Beach Boys, Simon & Garfunkel, The Zombies, Love, and Crosby Stills & Nash. It's an enviable environment that the five-piece clearly relishes.

Firewater is a loose musical collective formed by eccentric and outspoken bandleader Tod A. In the last 10 years, the unclassifiable group has released six albums of punk and rock, each of which is also fueled by gypsy music, ska, jazz, and klezmer.

Joan Wasser spent the 1990s as an alt-rocker and backup violinist in various bands. But when she started performing as Joan as Police Woman, she developed a knack for punk-informed soul. Hear an interview and stripped-down in-studio performance.

When The Beatles' members started Apple Records 40 years ago, they still depended on larger companies for the basics. Independent labels, including some run by musicians, have come a long way since. A small but growing number of musicians are taking the idea of the independent label even further.

Real Blasty, the sophomore full-length release from Chicago-born Kyle Andrews, is an upbeat album for sad people who just want to dance. A lesser artist could get weighed down by the broody lyrics covering unrequited love, insecurities and general enui. But Andrews pulls it off by pairing his angst with bright electro-pop rhythms and irresistible hooks.

Old Crow Medicine Show brings its rootsy back-porch sound to World Café, where it showcases songs from the new Tennessee Pusher. The disc takes a modern approach to Americana with gospel and rock overtones, but leaves the band's roots firmly intact.

One hundred years before McCain and Obama saturated the airwaves with ads, the era of mass-media presidential campaigns kicked off with mannequins and wax cylinders.

Can a children's author strike gold twice? R.L. Stine's Goosebumps series sold more than 300 million copies in the 1990s. Now, he's hoping to revisit that success with Goosebumps: HorrorLand.

Power-pop singer-songwriter Matthew Sweet spent the late '90s and early '00s avoiding the instrument that defined his early sound: the chiming guitar. His latest album, Sunshine Lies, marks his welcome return to the guitar as a primary instrument. Sweet performs new songs and discusses the influence of nature on the CD.